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Torontonians would strongly support a plan to tear down the east end of the Gardiner Expressway and replace it with a boulevard, rather than bear the cost of rebuilding it, according to a new poll.

The survey’s authors targeted two competing plans being debated by city council for what to do with the aging, elevated, multi-lane stretch of roadway that cuts between the waterfront and the downtown.

Some 60 per cent of the 2,415 people surveyed would support the tear-down of the 2.4-km stretch of the Gardiner east of Jarvis St., with an eye to replacing it with a street-level boulevard, according to the results released by Mainstreet Technologies. Some 45 per cent cited that as their preferred option.

“Toronto prefers the boulevard option. Six out of ten supporting anything is an extremely high number,” said president Quito Maggi.

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The other option, which Mayor John Tory supports and is labelled the hybrid plan, is a partial removal and rebuilding project that would keep an elevated portion attached to the Don Valley Parkway.

That plan, being sold as the more car- or commuter-friendly option, received 54 per cent support; 33 per cent of respondents identifed that approach as their preferred plan.

The hybrid plan could cost as much as $991 million, with the tear-down estimated at about $461 million, according a report prepared for city council last month.

Council is expected to make a decision at its June 9-10 meeting.

Maggi said the survey deliberately left the word “hybrid” out of the questions to avoid skewing the results, because the word suggests Tory’s plan is a “compromise between options, and that is not what the hybrid option is.”

The tear-down received more support in downtown and North York, compared with Etobicoke and Scarborough residents, who showed a preference towards the plan to rebuild the deteriorating elevated highway.

Respondents were also asked to rate Tory’s job performance. He scored a 63 per cent approval rating, with four out of 10 people in downtown and Scarborough “strongly” approving his performance.

The least favourable views were recorded in Etobicoke and North York, with 17 and 16 per cent respectively voicing “strong” disapproval, compared with 11 per cent in Scarborough and 7 per cent downtown.

A bit more than half of people polled, or 53 per cent, said they were satisfied with the work being done by council.

What to do with the occasionally crumbling expressway has been the subject of heated debate, with top city officials publicly lining up against the more costly Tory-endorsed “hybrid” plan.

In late May, the Star reported that Toronto’s medical officer of health, Dr. David McKeown, had concluded in an environmental assessment — the same report containing the estimated costs of the two projects — that tearing down the Gardiner was the best option for the long-term health of the city.

A week earlier the city’s chief planner, Jennifer Keesmaat, told an architecture conference that a plan supporting the construction of a broad avenue would be the right choice.

“This is an opportunity for us to create a grand boulevard that weaves together the waterfront with the rest of the city, and opens up new development parcels, allowing us to create complete communities within walking distance of the downtown core,” Keesmaat said during her speech.

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